


Augmented for Survival

by FrimReaper



Category: Call of Duty (Video Games)
Genre: Gen, I know Richtofen most likely doesn't have augmentations so consider this an au, I love me an augmented soldier, Just wrote out an idea that i had on my mind
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-10-15
Updated: 2020-06-09
Packaged: 2020-12-17 00:30:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,114
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21045326
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FrimReaper/pseuds/FrimReaper
Summary: I don't know what I'd do if I lost an arm. I usually need both!" - Ultimus Edward RichtofenBig thank you to my good friend Paranormally Damaged for reading through it and giving me tips!





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Playing bo3 and bo4 really warmed me up to the idea of augmentations and limb replacements, so I thought "Hey? What if Richtofen had limb replacements following a work incident?"
> 
> This will have more chapters to it as I really like this idea!

Dempsey thinks Richtofen is hiding a secret from his crew.

Not just what he's planning. Everyone knows about that secret. What Dempsey wants to know is why Richtofen never takes off his uniform coat.

No matter what the situation or location the group finds themselves in, whether it be in wet or hot conditions, Richtofen has never changed his outfit once.

Even though his comrades thinks he's crazy, Dempsey insists on finding out why.

-

"Hey, Tak, do you think Richtofen's hiding something from us?" Dempsey asked his ally, watching him clean his katana after slicing up a crowd of undead. Takeo gave him a look, to which Dempsey clarified, "You know, he never takes his jacket off?" Takeo simply sighed and said, "It is unwise to even waste a thought on such foolishness. If Richtofen does not want to take his coat off, then it is a choice he made." 

Dempsey huffed and crossed his arms, then looked around their environment. Richtofen brought them to a Japanese swamp hut for reasons that Dempsey couldn't understand. The humidity was almost unbearable, but yet Richtofen did not take off his coat. Wouldn't it make sense for him to?

"Yeah, whatever, Tak. I'm bored just sitting on my ass. See you around," Tank said, then got up off his seat of wooden crates, taking only a moment to acknowledge Nikolai's sleeping form, and made his way through the entrance labeled "Doctor's Quarters." "How fitting," Tank thought to himself as he used the zipline to travel to the hut, not wanting to get his clothes wet. 

He made his way into the hut, then immediately noticed Richtofen bent over a desk, tinkering with something. The desk had small fragments of the 115 meteor sitting on top of it, along with a bunch of tools. Whatever Richtofen was working on, it appeared to be mechanical.

The doctor appeared to be deeply concentrating on what he was working on, which allowed Dempsey to carefully and quietly walk over to the desk. He finally saw that Richtofen didn't have his coat on, and looked over to see it hanging on one of the walls. "Awesome, now I can see whatever the fuck Richtofen was hiding from us," Tank thought, then walked forward to see what Richtofen was working on. He got close enough to look over the German's shoulders, and quickly backed away.

It was an arm. Or rather, a mechanical arm. It was made completely of metal, complete with clear tubing containing glowing blue liquid. 

"What the fuck?" Dempsey whispered, looking over at the doctor, then noticed that one of his arms was missing, and that his other arm was also mechanical. He suddenly felt that he seen too much, and attempted to leave the hut before the other man found out his secret. 

However, his attempt to leave was cut short when his foot knocked against some empty wooden crates, which was more than enough to alert Richtofen that someone was watching him. 

Dempsey quietly cursed, then ducked as a screwdriver flew through the air and embedded itself where his head was moments before. He looked up to see Richtofen glaring down at him, attaching his mechanical arm to his shoulder socket. "Dempsey? What are you doing here?" The doctor asked in a bitter tone, clearly none too happy about being spied on. 

"Wha… What the fuck is wrong with your arms?! Are you a robot or something??" Tank shouted, to which Richtofen sighed and said, "Number one, these are called augmentations, and number two, I am not a robot. These are just replacements after I lost my arms." 

Dempsey looked confused, to which Richtofen explained, "I lost my arms following a work incident. Since Group 935 couldn't lose my brilliant mind and engineering skills, they gave me arm replacements powered by Element 115." He then admired the arms, saying, "Truly a wunderbar invention. Of course, I heavily modified them to be up to my standards, as stupid Maxis just can't design anything right." 

Dempsey could only stare at the augmentations, still perplexed at the thought of such technology. Richtofen noticed this, to which he laughed and said, "Of course you can't comprehend such technology, my dear Dempsey. You're too stupid to understand it. Perhaps a demonstration would be in order, then." Dempsey simply huffed and said, "Whatever, doc. At least I don't have to rely on machines to do basic shit." Richtofen chuckled and said, "Oh, I can do far more than basic shit. Now, where has that crawler gone to?" Almost as if on cue, the unmistakable hisses and groans of a crawler zombie grew near as it entered the hut, having taken a while to make its way from the main hut. "There you are, little one," Richtofen said gleefully, picking up the crawler by the throat with one hand. It hissed and swiped at Richtofen's arms, to which he tsked and shouted, "You're scratching out the engravings on my augmentations!" He threw the crawler on the ground and slammed his fist through its head, causing chunks of rotten meat and bone to spray across the room. Dempsey was surprised, as not even he could punch with that amount of force. He looked back up to see Richtofen cleaning his hands with a cloth, as if what he just did was completely normal to him. 

"That's… cool and all, but you do know that a new round is about to begin because of what you just did?" Dempsey pointed out, to which Richtofen shrugged and said, "Well, it was going to have to die sooner or later." Dempsey shook his head and left the hut, ready to face the undead. Richtofen followed behind him, and Dempsey looked over to see that he had no weapon with him. "Great, are you going to punch each freakbag to death?" Dempsey snickered, to which Richtofen smirked and said, "That would be just foolish, Dempsey. Besides, that's something you would do." Dempsey was about to argue against that, before he watched as Richtofen walked towards the horde. 

"What the fuck are you doing?! Get back here!" Dempsey shouted, but stopped as he noticed electricity begin to arc across Richtofen's arms. The 115 fuel began to pump quickly through the systems and Richtofen sharply raised his arms, using the electricity created by the fuel to fire a bolt of electricity similar to the kind the Wunderwaffe DG-2 would fire. The lightning bolt quickly traveled through the horde, electrocuting the zombies and causing them to scream before dropping to the ground. Richtofen noticed a running zombie that wasn't hit with the lightning bolt and knocked it to the ground when it got close enough, planting his foot on its chest to keep it down while grabbing its legs to rip off, turning it into a crawler. The whole time, Dempsey could only watch in shock.

Richtofen kicked the crawler away from him and made his way over to Dempsey, and laughed as he flinched when he raised his arm. "You see, Dempsey… these arms are so much more than basic," Richtofen told him, patting his shoulder before making his way back inside the small hut. Dempsey made his way back inside, watching Richtofen make his way over to the desk and finish up on the arm repairs. "Now go away, Dempsey. You hovering over me like that is rather annoying," Richtofen said, waving his arm behind him. 

Dempsey smirked and left, finally knowing Richtofen's little secret.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The backstory of how Richtofen recieved his new augmentations.

"Verdammt… where the hell is Maxis! I specified that he should have met me half an hour ago!!"

Richtofen sighed as he looked at his incomplete Wunderwaffe DG-2, realizing that he had been yelling at it as if it could respond. It was the third time this week that Maxis was late to his meetings with Edward, and he suspected that it had something to do with his new assistant, Sophia. Edward grumbled to himself as he picked up his tools and got back to building his beloved Wunderwaffe, cursing Maxis out as he did so.

Edward really needed Maxis to help him build his weapon as he was starting to run out of parts to build it. 'But yet he easily supplies all the parts for other ridiculous experiments,' he thought to himself as he began to add power to the bulbs that in theory would power the wonder weapon. 

As Edward added power to the bulbs, he soon became sidetracked as he ranted about Maxis and how useless he was becoming to the group to the wonder weapon as he worked. Unfortunately, he failed to realize that in doing so, he overfilled the energy to the bulbs. He knew that Element 115 was very potent, but his anger distracted him for too long. 

He sighed in defeat as he took the overpowered bulbs and screwed them into the Wunderwaffe, then picked it up and aimed it at the target he set up for weapon testing. "Well… I can at least prove to Maxis that the Wunderwaffe DG-2 can be mass produced," he said before pulling the trigger.

However, Edward underestimated the amount of energy the Wunderwaffe could take. A bright flash filled the air, causing the doctor to drop the weapon and cover his eyes to protect his vision. As a result, he did not realize that dropping the Wunderwaffe knocked some screws and wires loose, and was unable to run as the wonder weapon exploded and the roof of the building came down on top of him.

\---

Maxis sighed happily as Sophia sat on his desk and hugged him, clearly distracted from the fact that he was supposed to meet up with Richtofen. He figured that the man could wait a few minutes before he arrived, and knew that the doctor would be upset, but would ultimately have to live with his decision.

That was the plan, until both doctor and assistant were surprised by the sound of an explosion coming from one of the facility buildings. 

Maxis shot up from his seat and quickly looked out the window, watching as scientists and soldiers scrambled to the location of where the explosion was. He quickly apologized to Sophia and ran out of his office, who was just as shocked herself.

As soon as he arrived outside, he looked over at one of the soldiers running towards the fallen building. "What happened??" Maxis shouted over the noise of the alarms, to which the soldier replied, "One of Group 935's experiments must have gone wrong! We must hurry!" 

Maxis didn't need to be told twice, and both him and the soldier quickly made their way to the destroyed building. They arrived to see debris littering the ground and a group of soldiers digging through the rubble, trying to find any survivors. The doctor quickly realized that this building was where he was supposed to meet up with Richtofen, then quickly shouted at the soldiers to hurry up. 

After a few stressful minutes for everyone involved, one of the soldiers managed to dig up a body. They quickly pulled the body out, and Maxis gasped as he immediately recognized who it was.

Held in the soldier's arms was Richtofen, who was thankfully unconscious. His body and lab coat was torn and covered in dust and blood, but that was the least of his problems.

Some people in the crowd looked away, others cried out as they saw the damage caused to his arms. Richtofen's right arm was cut clean off, and his left was so mangled that Maxis knew there was no other choice but amputation.

As Richtofen was quickly carried off to the infirmary, only one thought plagued Maxis' mind as he watched his colleague be taken away.

"I should have been there."

\---

Samantha couldn't help but notice how much quieter it got. 

When she was bored, and her father was too preoccupied with work or spending time with Sophia (which she hated), she would go to Richtofen and see what crazy new experiment he was up to.

Now, with Richtofen placed in a coma, Samantha couldn't help but feel lonely.

She sighed to herself as she looked at Edward laying in a bed, looking almost like he was taking a peaceful nap. His arms had been amputated a few days prior, leaving only a tiny stump behind on each shoulder. Samantha swung her feet as she sat in silence, holding her teddy bear tight and wishing that Richtofen would wake up soon.

"He will be alright, Samantha. He just needs time to heal." 

Samantha quickly turned to see Maxis walking up to her, and smiled sadly as she hopped off her chair and ran over to hug him. He immediately hugged her back, and they walked over to Edward's bedside.

"I miss him, daddy…" Samantha sighed sadly as she looked over the unconscious man again. As much as the two had problems with one another, Samantha deep down did care for Richtofen, no matter how mean he could be at times.

"I know, Samantha. When he wakes up, he will be as good as new. He will have new arms to replace the ones he lost," Maxis reassured his daughter, placing a hand on her shoulder. Samantha nodded and sighed, then looked down at her teddy bear and got an idea.

"Would it be alright if I left Eddie my teddy?" Samantha asked, to which Maxis smiled and said, "I think he would like that very much." 

Samantha smiled and walked up to Richtofen, placing her teddy bear next to one of his shoulder stumps. "Here you go, Eddie. Teddy will watch over you until you wake up."

\---

The augmentations were truly a work of art.

They were a beautiful silver color and were covered in circular engravings inspired by the carvings found on the 115 meteors they owned. Clear tubes filled with circulating liquid Element 115 were visible inside each arm, providing the means of which to power the arms, not to mention the glowing blue liquid added another level of beauty to the augmentations. The Group 935 logo was carefully painted onto the metal shoulder pads, displaying the group from which the augmentations came from. 

They were custom built for Richtofen's frame, which ensured that the augmentations would not be too thin or bulky for it's user, and would not require to be recharged unless the Element within lost its power.

Maxis smiled as he carefully closed the box that the augmentations were stored in, pleased with the work that went into building them. He knew that Edward was ready to receive them, as the operation to remove his shoulder sockets and replace them with mechanical slots to attach his arms to was completed the day before.

Richtofen was ready to come back.

\---

The first thing Richtofen noticed when he woke up was that he was in an infirmary. 

The second thing he noticed was that Maxis was looking down at him, who had a look of relief on his face, while Samantha was standing next to him, looking as though she was about to cry.

"Teddy! You're awake!" Samantha cried out, wrapping her arms around him and hugging him tight. Edward flinched a little before he raised his arms to hug her back, only to realize that they were no longer there.

He looked down at his arms, and shrieked as he saw only mechanical stumps where his arms should have been. He panicked as he tried to think of reasons why his arms were gone, and at the moment, he could only think of Maxis removing them as a punishment of some sort. 

"Maxis! What have you done!" Edward screamed, causing Samantha to let go and cower behind her father. "Richtofen, your arms were damaged… we had no other choice," Maxis said, placing a hand on his shoulder to calm him, but pulled away when Edward gave him a crazed look in his eyes.

"H-How?? How could I lose them?" He asked, panic evident in his voice. Maxis sighed and said, "One of your experiments backfired. It caused the roof to collapse on you. Your right arm was cut off, and your left was so broken and mangled that we had to remove it to avoid gangrene."

Edward took a moment to process this information, trying to remember what happened. He remembered working on his Wunderwaffe when Maxis was late, and remembered being blinded by a bright light before everything went black. He sighed pitifully as he looked back at his stumps, then said, "I-I don't know what to do… I can't continue with my work with no arms…"

Maxis smiled and shook his head, which prompted Edward to look up at him. "While you were in a coma, some of the scientists worked together to make you a present." He then bent down to pick up a box, and placed it on the bed next to Richtofen. He slowly opened it up, and Edward gasped as he laid eyes on the most beautiful thing he's ever seen. 

His beautiful augmentations shone in the light, showing off all the engravings covering them. The glowing blue liquid flowing through the tubes was stunning to look at, and Edward was still in shock as Maxis carefully picked one of the arms up and displayed it to him. 

"You can thank Doctor Groph and Schuster for all their hard work. They really missed you, Richtofen. We all did," Maxis said with a smile, and gently held Edward's right shoulder to attach the arm into the slot. It made a satisfying click as it locked into place, and Maxis stepped back as Edward lifted his new arm, flexing the fingers back and forth along with the elbow.

"Mein Gott…" Edward whispered, taking it all in. He could not believe that such beautiful machines were now his own, and that his friends would go out of their way to make these for him. He looked up at Maxis and Samantha, who smiled at him, glad to see he liked them.

"I think you should rest now, Richtofen. You've been through a lot," Maxis said as he left the other arm inside the box for Edward to pick up. The doctor simply nodded and laid back down, still examining his new arm. Maxis chuckled and took Samantha's hand, and they both left the room, not before Samantha waving goodbye.

Once they left the room, Edward reached out for his other arm, but stopped as he noticed a teddy bear laying next to him. He picked it up, noticing that he can still feel, and hugged it tight before falling asleep with a smile on his face.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fun fact: according to Treyarch's view of augmentations the person recieving new arms would have their shoulder sockets surgically removed. Ouch!


End file.
